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What I Learned from my Last Day of School

The value of proper conclusion

Every morning last month I attended a Turkish course at a language school in Istanbul.

Toward the end of the course, I learned that there would be a final exam on the last day.

All month, I had completed most of my homework and studied when I could.

But as I realized just how hard the final exam might be, I was quite sure that I would not pass it.

So I decided I would not take it.

I thought to myself, I didn’t take this class to take an exam. I only came to learn. And I have learned a lot, yet I know there are things that I haven’t grasped. I don’t want to feel like a failure by not passing the exam.

Just as importantly, though, I didn’t want my teacher to think of me as unintelligent.

But the day before the exam, I had a change of heart. I was improving somewhat on the practice tests. I was “getting” things a bit more. And I had confidence in myself that I could pass. Plus, the teacher helped us believe that the exam wouldn’t be too difficult.

Ultimately, the exam–and whatever preparation I put into it–would be another exercise in learning.

If I didn’t take the exam, I would be cheating myself out of another learning opportunity.

So I decided to take it.

I know now that I shouldn’t have been afraid of something that was going to help me learn.

After our teacher graded the exams, she returned to our classroom smiling, and with our certificates in-hand.

We had all passed (except the one student who didn’t turn up).

I think we all felt a sense of accomplishment. And I think we all felt like we had properly concluded our learning experience.

If I would have skipped the exam, though, I wouldn’t have felt that way. I wouldn’t have had the sense that, with my fellow students, we had stuck together to the end.

Had I not taken the exam, I would have probably felt that I had not brought proper closure to this (very short) chapter in my life.

Had I not taken the exam, I probably would have, at least to some degree, felt like something of a failure.

I would have felt like I had let myself down. Maybe I would have felt like I had let my classmates down too.

So while I learned more Turkish by taking (and preparing for) the exam, I also learned that seeing this chapter through to the very end had its own value.

My classmates and I had stuck through to the end. We learned. And we passed.

Inspiring Quotes

“But I would like to suggest that all of us, we and you alike, commit ourselves to retaining that split-screen world in which we hold our plans--our personal plans, our dreams, our abundant energies--always and in juxtaposition with the images that disturb us and call us to everyday responsibility.”
--Diana Eck

“Christianity is a complex confection…Its own members can be uncertain of its purpose, forgetful of its past, and confused about its present.”
--Phillip Kennedy ("Christianity: An Introduction," p.X)

“When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Theology by its very nature is, or should be, troublesome. If theology is doing its job applying the teachings of the prophets—from Jeremiah to Jesus to current issues—it will inevitably vex the guardians of the status quo. It is part of theology's job description."
--Harvey Cox, my former professor